This book is cute: The soft and squishy science and culture of aww by Sarah Wassner Flynn

Although there's some science mixed into this, it's mostly a mixture of cute pictures of baby animals, toys, food, and more.

The author makes an attempt at categorizing why things appear "cute" and the reasons for them; she visits the familiar theory that big eyes, round heads, and a soft, rounded appearance in general make viewers think of babies, triggering an impulse to protect. This is, of course, accompanied by lots of pictures of cute babies, puppies, and other infant creatures. The following chapter delves more into animals that may or may not be conventionally "cute" and this is where the book kind of derails. The book lists the "adorable adaptation" but it doesn't really explain why the adaptation is cute, just how the animal uses it. The next chapter jumps to Japan and kawaii as well as various toys around the world. Then miniatures, then cute food. The food section mentions studies that show people are more likely to eat "playful" or cute food. More tiny food is shown then a range of restaurants from a Hello Kitty cafe to a restaurant where giraffes and stick their heads in a window for a snack. How businesses use cute to sell, from advertisements to products themselves has a chapter and then a mix of cute jobs, some of which are a bit of a stretch like "voice-over actor" and various viral cuteness. The book ends with quizzes, photography techniques and some drawing tips, and a lengthy index and photo credits.

Although it starts out with a little science, the book quickly devolves into a mash-up of cute photographs, random facts, and tiny things. And that's not bad! I love tiny things and our miniatures maker workshop is a super popular program that I've had to add multiple sessions of each year. This is the epitome of fun browsing and giggling as readers go "awwww" over the cuteness.

Verdict: While this didn't live up to the "science" tag on the cover, and there's a notable lack of any mention of gender differences in the appeal and use of cute things (it's not really universal - even in four year olds I've seen kids make fun of boys for liking unicorns for example) it's an amusing factoid book to browse and for me it's worth purchasing because of the miniatures sections.

ISBN: 9781426332944; Published March 2019 by National Geographic; Review copy provided by publicist, donated to the library